Cecil County Dragway is the host to the Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout and we are here at the 5th installment for the 2013 season. With the rain coming and going all day Jim Halsey and the track crew were hard at work all day keeping the track up to par for the racers! Each class ran one qualifier and then went right into eliminations.

Mo Hall who has been running very well and qualifying either at the top or very near it at the previous four race took the number 1 spot in Cecil 10.5 this month with a 4.18 at 185, TJ Kasper #2 4.25 at 186, Richard Sexton 4.27 4,27 at 178, Mike Decker Jr 4.33 at 174, Harry Jarvis 4.35 156, Brad Harris 4.38 172, Larry Wood 4.44 175, Daniel Smith Jr 4.63 165, Billy Gordon 4.71 170, Frank Soldridge 4.75 174, Tim Essick 5.00 154, Lou Sciortino 5.06 148, Steven Crisafulli and Tommy Mauro round out the field of 14 by taking the tree so they could be in the field. Each of them had issues getting there respective cars fired so by taking the tree they were able to be in the field.

On a side note Frank Soldridge of PSI Speed Solutions was driving Joe Copson’s beautiful Camaro rebuilt by Victory Racecraft. Expect to see some big numbers from this car in the next few races.Finals

In the finals for Cecil 10.5 it was an all screw blower final with Mike Decker Jr and Richard Sexton lining up in this battle. Mike Decker Jr took home the win with a 4.15 at 186 to go low et for the entire event. Sexton went up in smoke so he just watcher Decker Jr take home his first event win at Cecil County.

Congrats to Mike Decker Jr on his Cecil 10.5 win!

Outlaw Big Tire

Outlaw Big Tire has been a class that previously has had some low car counts but at the August race 11 cars came out with a couple new additions to the class! Jimmy Reutter took the #1 qualifying position with a 4.59 157, TJ Kasper dusted off the old Lincoln to come out and play in OBT and took the #2 qualifying position at 4.65 160, James Houston 4.83 @ 150, Joe Serviss 4.99 @ 142, Marty Brown II 5.17 @ 140, Duane Taylor 5.33 @ 135, Joe Schroeder 6.53 @ 132, John Fisher 5.68 @ 129, Charlie Boy Micallef 7.06 @ 69, Adam Cohen and Tony Myrie both had N/T to round out the field.

Outlaw Drag Radial is a class that is fun to watch as you can see nitrous cars, twin turbo cars, big single turbo cars or even twin procharged cars! The blower cars are awesome to hear but hold your ears! Outlaw Drag Radial only saw seven cars doing battle this month at Cecil County Dragway. Qualifying had Dave Valora in his twin turbo Buick sitting number 1 with a 4.75 162, Don Burton in his twin F1R procharger Mustang with a 4.76 173, Derek Samolewicz 5.03 147, Bill Dutka in his OAB Racing tuned 1979 Malibu 5.13 128, Mustang Mike Modeste in his twin F1X Procharged Mustang 5.13 @ 158, Steve Woolley 5.52 @ 157 and Frank Soldridge N/T as he was still fixing the car and took the tree to get on the ladder.

FinalsIn an all BBF Procharger final we saw Don Burton in his twin Procharger F1R’s take the win with a 4.75 153 over Mustang Mike Modeste twin F1X’s 5.06 @ 159.

Congrats to Don Burton on the Outlaw Drag Radial win at Cecil County Dragway!

The finals saw Rich Bruder in his midframe 88 turbo setup run a 4.73 @ 156 over Dean Marinis 4.90 @ 148. These two cars have met in the finals quite often the last couple years with both taking wins at various events.

Congrats Rich Bruder on the 275 Drag Radial win at Cecil County Dragway.

FinalsThe finals saw another power adder naturally aspirated final round with this time the N/A setup of Marc McCloud running a 5.15 @ 135 to take out John Keesey’s 5.18 @ 136. After the July race John Keesey hurt the upper torque boxes so he was hard at work leading up to this race and it looked like that hard work of putting in the new Wild Rides S-Box worked out great for him!

The finals saw two regulars who are at Cecil with Brian Ferrari taking the win with an 8.53 @ 155 over Mike Pyott’s 8.510 @ 158. Very good race here with Ferrari taking out Pyott’s quicker e.t.

10.0 Index

10.0 Index is just like 8.50 only they cannot go any faster than 10.0 in the quarter mile. Just like previous races Bob Romano has been on a tear and qualified number 1 and went through the field of 18! Bob qualified with a 10.018, Brian Grinnell number 2 with a 10.022, John Warehine number 3 with a 10.037, John Wooden 10.039, Ed Riordan Jr 10.054, Kevin Baker 10.055, John DiSantis 10.061, Michael Copenhaver 10.095, Billy Gibbs 10.100, Keith Reis Jr 10.103, Brad Bowers 10.111, Josh Lion 10.280, Amy Campanara 10.801, Billy Brown 9.984, Tony Shellehamer 9.918, James Joiner Jr 9.906, Brian Correll 9.899 and Brian Diemicke round out the field with a 9.800.

Bob Romano had the #18 qualifier first round and ran a 10.042 to Brandon Diemicke’s 10.1099. Second round saw Bob on a single and he ran a 10.052 on the 10.0 dial. Round three Bob was lined up against Ed Riordan Jr in his 69 Firebird and Ed fouled it away and Bob ran it out with a 9.884.

In round 4 Bob was lined up against Brian Grinnell in his wheelstanding 78 Fairmont. Brian fould away the chance to move on into the finals going -.345 red to Bob’s .051 and running a 9.986.

In the finals we saw the closest race of the day with Bob taking the win over John Warehime with an 0.28 reaction time and a dead on 10.000 against Johns .025 light 10.009.

Congratulations to Bob Romano on yet another 10.0 win at Cecil County Dragway.

11.50 Index

11.50 saw a 16 car field with Roger Bailey taking the #1 qualifying position with an 11.525.

Cliff Sebring the eventual winner this month battled through an always tough field. First round saw Cliff take on John Murphy and pull out the win with a 11.51 to the losing 11.523. Second round saw Cliff up against #1 qualifier Roger Bailey who ran under the 11.50 dial with an 11.461 to Cliff’s 11.561. In the third round Cliff was again lucky to race against someone who went to fast with Jim Schmidt running an 11.498 to Cliff’s 11.536.

In the finals Cliff pulled out a .000 reaction time to tree Morris Spahr and win the 11.50 race this month at Cecil County Dragway with a slower 11.682 to Spahr’s faster 11.584.

Congratulations Cliff Sebring on the 11.50 win!

Even with the many breaks from the rain Jim Halsey and crew made this race finish! Hats off to the hardest working crew and the best monthly race series!

See everyone at the next race which isn’t a points race but its the 4th Annual Yellowbullet race!

Cecil County Dragway hosts the Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout each month and the turnout was absolutely a great one in multiple classes this month! The normal classes that run every month 10.5, Outlaw Radial, X275, Ultra, Big Tire, 8.50, 10.0 and 11.50 were all here with the addition of Top Sportsman for the May race. The weather was beautiful although during the day track temps reached 115 degrees so many of the racers had some trouble getting down the track so it was a tuners race for sure! As usual Cecil County has a test session on the Friday before the race and some impressive runs were made. Craig Pio an Outlaw 10.5 regular who has ran very well last year had an accident up top end and ended up taking out part of the tower lane scoreboard and the motor laying in the return road. Craig is bruised and the car most probably will be a loss but the good news is that the cage work by Montana Brothers Race Cars did its job and saved his life! Everyone here at Gonedragracing.com wishes Craig Pio a speedy recovery and hope to see you out again real soon! Get well Craig!

Now the action in all of the classes was great with some new winners taking home the wins!

Outlaw 10.5

Outlaw 10.5 which has some of biggest heavy hitters in the country that race regularly right here at Cecil County Dragway were all on the grounds trying to take home the win this race as well as lower the records! In a class that is dominated by twin turbo big blocks two nitrous racers Charlie Dolbin of Caldwell Motorsports and Mo Hall of Mo Hall Motorsports were #1 and #2 on the qualifying ladder with Dolbin laying down a 4.205 and Hall right behind him with a 4.208! T.J. Kasper followed in the #3 spot with a 4.286, Larry Wood who had an accident at the Yellowbullet race and had Victory Racecraft rebuild his gorgeous 10.5 Corvette was back in action and qualified with a 4.343 to hold the #4 spot, Dale Collins Jr was out in Buck Jarvis Camaro and held the #5 spot on the ladder with a 4.383. Mike Decker Jr of Decker Salvage who just two weeks before had a fire at Maryland International Raceway fixed his Camaro and ran a 4.478, Steven Crisafulli was piloting Tommy Ferricks beautiful 10.5 S10 held the #7 spot with a 4.492, Mike Reynols had his Mean blown combo out and was able to get down the track running a 4.545, Anthony DiSomma in the DiSomma Racing Engines Punisher Camaro was next with a 4.565 to qualify #9. Steven Kluepfel who has the blown fox body and although not the fastest at Cecil he tends to get down the track more than not ran a 4.583 to qualify #10. John Cheman another blower car was #11 with a 4.583, Twin Turbo Tom Kasper of Kasper’s Korner was #12 with a 4.608, David Hance of New York Motorsports who recently sold his Twin Turbo Mustang to Mark Wells was qualified #13 with a 4.720, Richard Sexton another blower combo qualified #14 at 4.782, Adam Smith in his 68 Barracude held the #15 spot on the ladder with a 4.870 and someone who we don’t usually see at the bottom of the ladder Billy Gordon who ran very well at Cecil County Dragway last year ran a 5.079 to hold the #16 spot on the ladder. Outlaw 10.5 saw 23 cars on the grounds doing battle! That number is very nice to see as 10.5 is one of the baddest classes in the county right now!

1st Round

First round was exciting right off the bat with Mo Hall in his Big Nitrous motor running a 4.120 to take out Adam Smith who was dead late on the tree running a 4.432, Two turbo cars were up with Larry Wood taking down David Hance with a 4.321 to a slowing 4.927. Team Punisher Anthony DiSomma was up next against Mike Reynolds and DiSomma takes the win with Reynolds leaving before the tree came down. Caldwell Motorsports Charlie Dolbin was up next against Billy Gordon and both cars had some problems with Dolbin coasting to a 4.613 to take the win over Gordon’s 5.848, Steven Crisafulli and Steven Kluepfel were the next pair and Crisafulli takes the win with a 4.439 over a red lighting Kluepfel. Mike Decker and John Cheman two bad blower cars and Decker takes the win with a 5.147 over Cheman who broke a blower belt and lost the throttle linkage. T.J. Kasper and Richard Sexton two of the premier racers in 10.5 did battle with a fairly close race with Kasper taking the win with a 4.258 over Sexton’s 4.279. The last pair down the track for round 1 was Dale Collins Jr and Tom Kasper. Kasper’s car shut off as the tree fell so Collins Jr takes the win with a 4.755.

2nd Round

Second round Mo Hall was up against Steven Crisafulli. Crisafulli went up in smoke and Mo Hall takes the win with a 4.131 to backup his previous 4.12 and now Mo Hall holds the top nitrous 10.5 car! Larry Wood and Dale Collins Jr next up with Wood taking the win although Collins hit the tree with a .018 light but Larry Wood gets around him with a 4.248 to a 4.325. T.J. Kasper and Mike Decker in a battle of twin turbo versus blower cars saw Kasper run a 4.201 to take the easy win of Decker running a 4.791. Charlie Dolbin had a bye run as Anthony DiSomma couldn’t make the call so he just took the tree to move on to the semis.

3rd RoundIn the semis T.J. Kasper was up against Mo Hall and like the April race where Mo Hall had a nitrous hiccup he does the same and Kasper takes the win with another 4.201. Larry Wood had a bye into the finals as Charlie Dolbin couldn’t make the call.

Finals

The finals saw Larry Wood and T.J. Kasper. Corvette versus Mustang! Very close in the finals here at Cecil an although the ET’s were nothing spectacular it was a very close being .0079 at the finishline. In his first race back after the rebuild Larry Wood and Ron Schlessinger take the win with a 4.393 to Kasper’s quicker 4.371. Wood had him on the tree to take the win!

Congratulations to Larry Wood on the win at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!!

Outlaw Big Tire

Outlaw Big Tire didn’t see a lot of racers but the racers who were on the grounds this month were running very well. Joe Schroder in his 69 Camaro who is a regular here at Cecil took the top qualifier with a 4.402, John Schroeder in his nitrous 2002 Camaro qualified #2 with a 4.490, Tony Myrie sat #3 with a 4.720, James Houston #4 with a 5.009 and Kevin Ashley in his Procharged El Camino was #5 with a 5.030.

Round 1

John Schroeder and Kevin Ashley were the first pair up with Ashley losing traction so Schroeder takes the win with a 4.470 to Ashley’s 4.990, Tony Myrie and James Houston were next up with Houston dead late with a .464 light to Myrie’s .124 light so Myrie takes the win with a 5.187 to Houston’s 4.871. Joe Schroeder has a bye and runs a 4.481 and although he didn’t back up his previous run for a record he went straight down the track.

Round 2

Smokin Joe Schroeder and Tony Myrie were up for a chance to get into the Outlaw Big Tire finals. Myrie did what he could and tree’d Smokin Joe but Schroeder reeled him in running a 4.461 to Myrie’s 4.950. John Schroeder had a bye so he just took the tree to meet Smokin Joe in the finals.

Finals

In the finals we saw two Schroeder’s, two Camaros do battle for the Outlaw big Tire win with the Scotty’s Racing Technology Nitrous Camaro of John Schroeder take the win over the blower Camaro of Joe Schroeder running a 4.428 to a 4.866.

Congratulations to John Schroeder on the win in Outlaw Big Tire at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!

Outlaw Drag Radial

Outlaw Drag Radial is a fun class to watch! The amount of power these fella’s are putting down on the 315 Drag Radial is insane!!! In qualifying we saw Frank Soldridge of PSI Motorsports take the top qualifying spot with a 4.42, Scotty G of Scotty’s Racing Technology take the #2 spot with a 4.64, Bill Dutka of the OAB Racing tuned Malibu sat #3 with a 4.77,
Marcus Thompson who has a wild paint job on his single 118 mm turbo Mustang #4 with a 5.2, Joe Dedona a newcomer to Cecil in his Procharged Corvette #5 with a 5.24 and Mustang Mike Modeste who has his twin Procharger F1X Mustang sitting #6 with a 5.50. Mustang Mike has been struggling with the twin Prochargers but is slowly getting the car to run better and better.

Round 1

In the first round Bill Dutka and Marcus Thompson were up with the OAB Racing Malibu take the win with a 4.70 at 175 over Thompson’s slowing 5.522 at 135. Scotty G and Joe Dedona met in the first round with Scotty G taking the win over Dedona with a 4.548. Dedona couldn’t keep the car running after his burnout. Hope to see Joe out next month at Cecil! The last pair up in the first round was Mustang Mike and Frank Soldridge. Huge upset here as Mustang Mike takes the win with a 4.732 over Soldridge’s 5.112. Congrats to Mustang Mike as I believe this is the first pass down the 1/8th even though it wasn’t the cleanest run.

Round 2

In the semis Scotty G and Bill Dutka met up and Dutka’s Malibu wouldn’t make any boost so Scotty G takes the win stepping up again with a 4.459, Mustang Mike had a single here and the twin F1X Procharged Mustang steps up and runs a 4.447!

Finals

The finals saw two racers that have been racing that have been around for quite a while and have many wins combined! Although the finals was nothing spectacular with Modeste going red and Scotty G clicking it off with a 5.151 over Modeste’s 5.428. Congratulations to Scotty Guadagno on the Outlaw Drag Radial win at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout! Also Congratulations to Mustang Mike for figuring out the twin procharged car!

275 Drag Radial

The hotbed class for the last few years! Rules seem to always be an issue but we still saw 14 cars out at Cecil County for the Outlaw Streetcar Shootout! The one power adder combo that seems to be at a disadvantage is the blower car but we haven’t seen many out this year yet to see everything stands. The drivers met in the staging lanes before the race with the F1R blower cars now getting some weight taken off and allowed to race at 3100. The hope is to be able to pull the combos in the class tighter together. A full spreadsheet is available from all the races under the 2013 X275 rules with the combos fairly close with the Quick 8 average of all combos being a 4.722. The fastest Quick 8 combo is the turbo with a 4.644, Big Block right behind with a 4.665, SB Nitrous follows with an average of 4.762 and blower cars at a 4.822. With the weight adjustment we shall see if the blower cars come out and show what they can run.

Qualifying saw 14 cars with Mean Dean Marinis in his Big Block Nitrous Mustang take the top spot with a 4.689, Chris Little in his SB Turbo combo right behind with a 4.703, Ron Rhodes #3 in his SB Nitrous with a 4.713, John Ashnault in his turbo combo #4 with a 4.862, Rich Bruder now running a turbo after dominating the 2012 season with his procharger run 4.941 to sit #5 on the ladder, Ronnie Diaz who runs a Mod Motor with an F1X Procharger #6 with a 4.972, Chris Evans #7 with a 4.996, Brendan Mills, #8 with a 5.150, Anthony Dimatteo 5.221 to sit #9, Shawn Strauss #10 with a 5.255, Darrell Varner who last month put his 85 Camaro on the bumper sits #11 5.289, Mike Boccella of Boccella’s Performance #12 with a 5.564, Vince Palazzolo #13 running a 5.742 and Mike Cerminaro round out the field with a 5.867. Many of the X275 cars were having trouble in qualifying due to the 115 degree track temperature.

Round 1

First round for X275 was pretty exciting with many cars running better now that the track cooled off some. Chris Evans and Brendan Mills in a battle of blower versus turbo sees Evans cut the tree down with a .005 reaction time and a 4.744 over Mills 4.871. Ronnie Diaz and Anthony Dimatteo up next with Diaz taking the win with a 4.848 to a 5.182. Ron Rhodes owner of Rhodes Custom Auto runs a 4.686
over Boccella who runs quicker than his qualifiers but couldn’t keep up with the SB Nitrous Camaro. Chris Little and Vince Palazzolo in a battle of turbos sees Little step up with a 4.693 to a 4.957, Rich Bruder, Dean Marinis and John Ashnault all had a singles due to breakage. Bruder steps up and shows the power with a 4.655, Dean Marinis runs a 4.760 and John Ashnault runs a 4.793 which is his fastest pass to date!

Round 2

Round 2 saw Chris Evans who hit the tree hard in the first round try to hit the tree again against Chris Little but he he hit it a little too hard. Both Little and Evans red lit but Little only going -.004 red and take the win with a 4.703. Little has been very consistent that last few races. In a battle of Ron’s Ronnie Diaz in the F1X Procharged Mod Motor takes the upset win treeing Ron Rhodes with an .073 light over a sleepy .370 light. Both cars run 4.78 but this race was won at the tree. Rich Bruder and John Ashnault were up next in the turbo combos with Bruder taking the win with a 4.676 over Ashnault who wheelies hard and has to pull over. Dean Marinis with a single shows everyone how its done and goes 4.599 to move on to the semis!

Round 3

In the semis we had Procharged Ronnie Diaz and the Large Frame 88 of Chris Little and Big Block Nitrous Dean Marinis battling Rich Bruder’s Mid Frame 88 turbo. Both number 1 and 2 on the qualifying ladder move on with Little taking the win light with a 4.722 and Marinis running another .50 with a 4.592.

Finals

The finals saw the two baddest racers in X right now with Dean Marinis running a 4.629 to take the win over Chris Little who seemed down on MPH with a 4.682 at 150.

Congrats to Mean Dean Marinis on his win at at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!

Ultra 275

Ultra 275 in its second year at Cecil County had a great showing at the May Cecil County Outlaw Streetcar Shootout. This class is aimed at the beginner heads up world of racing! In a class dominated last year by the N/A Mafia of the likes of Marc McCloud and Mike Barry has the power adder combos out to show the power adder combos are a strong choice when entering the world of heads up Outlaw style of racing. Ultra saw 18 cars show up to qualify for the 16 car field. John Keesey offered up some Junior Johnson Moonshine to the #16 qualifier if Ultra had a full ladder so Darin Cusamano walked away with that and #9 Samir Faqih received a $25 American Express gift card.

Qualifying again was difficult like the other radial classes with the high track temps during the day. We saw the N/A combo of John Snyder in his beautiful 1965 Pontiac GTO run a 5.111, Jeff Kinsler another Pontiac out for the first time this year adding nitrous to his combo as he has been a N/A racer previously run a 5.212, John Keesey qualified #3 with his turbo combo with a 5.253, Mark Dill #4 with his nitrous fed small block ford run 5.368, #5 saw Ed Pfeiffer run a 5.437. Ed who has been working with John Bewley of Lil John’s Motorsport Solutions change his entire combo over the winter with the hopes he would be a major player in Ultra 275 this year. This was Ed’s best qualifying spot since his entrance into Ultra. Chris Little who was doing double duty in X275 and Ultra 275 sat #6 with a 5.448, Jon Langer in his popular wheelstanding 69 Pontiac was #7 with a 5.455, Mike Barry another N/A Mafia member as well as Chief Ultra Man qualified #8 with a 5.476, Samir Faqih #9 5.548, Scott Bitzer in the OAB Racing tuned F1C blower qualified #10 at 5.563, Scott Rudinsky followed at #11 with a 5.709,
Jonathan Joseph who was putting the car on the bumper just about every pass qualified #12 with a 5.853, Bill Cole #13 at 6.030, Paul Burchill #14 6.036, Marc McClound qualified unusually low with a 6.072, and Darin Cusamano round out the 16 car field with a 6.211.

Round 1

The first pair up we saw Marc McCloud take on Jeff Kinsler. Kinsler was very late on the tree and although he ran quicker than McCloud he could get past him with McCloud going .063 5.244 to .538 5.175. Mark Dill and Bill Cole were the next pair up with Dill again taking the win with a holeshot going .109 5.375 to Cole’s .403 5.359. Scott Bitzer takes down John Langer with a .072 5.510 to Langer’s .155 5.798. Jonathan Joseph whose bumper saw a lot of action today tames it down but couldn’t run the number with Ed Pfeiffer winning with a 5.763 to a slowing 6.094. John Keesey and Paul Burchill were next up with Keesey improving with a 5.204 taking the win over Burchill’s 5.311. John Snyder the #1 qualifier improves and goes 5.094 over Darin Cusamano’s 6.237. Chris Little faced off against Scott Rudinsky with Little taking the round 1 win with a 5.283 to Scott’s 5.773. Mike Barry had a bye first round and runs a stout 5.234.

Round 2

Round 2 saw Marc McCloud show the N/A car’s are still top dogs in Ultra running a 5.069 taking down Scott Bitzer who has a nice pass of 5.189 but just not enough to take down Marc. Ed Pfeiffer and Mark Dill who are teammates and pit together all the time at Cecil sees Ed run a career best pass with a 5.281to Dill’s 5.344. Pfeiffer who missed the 2nd qualifier and then blew his intake tubing due to a meth explosion worked his tail off with his teammates to make the call and move on to the semis. In a battle of N/A cars John Snyder takes down Mike Barry running a 5.110 to Barry’s 5.173. John Keesey and Chris Little were the next pair up with Keesey with Keesey carrying the wheels out and taking out Little with a 5.152 to Little’s 5.256.

Round 3

In the semis we saw two N/A cars and two turbo cars with John Keesey lined up against Marc McCloud and John Snyder against Ed Pfeiffer. Keesey takes the win over McCloud with a 5.117
as McCloud was dead late and falling off from his previous runs with a 5.322. Ed Pfeiffer who was having a great time going rounds tried to hit the tree hard and was a little to quick going red with a -.008 red light to hand Snyder the win who runs a 5.062.

Finals

In a battle of the Power Adder and N/A combos we saw John Snyder who has been hard to beat all day running consistently in the low teens on 0’s all day. John Keesey leaves first with a .042 light to Snyders .074 and takes the holeshot win running another 5.117 as he did in the semis to take the first power adder win!

Congratulations to John Keesey and team on the first power adder win at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!

8.50 Index

8.50 Index the ever popular class with consistent wheels up launches saw 17 cars this month with Al Davidowski last months winnder taking the #1 qualifying position on the ladde going dead on 8.500. Joe Albrecht right being with an 8.508, Luis Martinez 8.512,

Zach Obert came from the bottom of the field to take out Mike Good, Mike Pyott, Al Davidowski, and Joe Albrecht to take the win in 8.50 Index. Zach continually improved his reaction times to where he went .009 8.519 in the finals to take out Joe Albrecht to quick 8.485.

Congrats to Zach on the 8.50 Index win this month at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!

10.0 Index

10.0 Index saw 19 cars this month at Cecil with everyone fairly close in qualifying. Keith Reis Jr took the top spot with a 10.010 in his 69 Buick. The field like most months is full with everyone trying to get as close as they can the that 10.00 run.

Bob Romano in his 95 Chevy Truck went the rounds taking out Mo Bolduc, Harry Lutz, Tom Wooden and Brian Correll in the finals running a 10.009 for the win!

Congrats to Bob on the win this month at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!

11.50 Index

11.50 Index another class that is trying to run as close to the 11.50 number as possible saw Steve Gurnick run a 11.501 in his 85 Mustang. Cliff Sebring was the man today qualifying #2 on the ladder in 11.50 and going rounds eventually taking the win over Roger Bailey with Bailey going a little to quick with an 11.499 so Sebring take home the 11.50 win with his 11.557.

Congratulations Cliff Sebring on the win this month at the Finishline Performance Outlaw Streetcar Shootout!

Atco which has undergone some major cosmetic changes with the wall behind the burnout box and the smaller tower being torn down. Atco now has a different look as the cars come down the lanes and make a right into the burnout box. A much needed change in my opinion that opens up the track view. The index racers ran along with NHRA’s Super Stockers, Stockers, Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street cars at the NHRA National Open sponsored by PC Richard.

The weather couldn’t be any better for the fans and racers with no clouds in the sky and a nice mid 60’s temperature! It was a good day for some racing!

11.50 Index saw 12 cars battling for the top spot with David Harvey Jr running the closest with an 11.517 with James Moshier and Bob Sanders running close behind with a 11.518 and 11.520 respectively. Once eliminations started it was a battle of reaction times as most everyone who moved onto round 2 had a better reaction time than there opponent other than James Moshier who was able to run down Lynn Townes with his 11.517 over a slower 11.571. Round 2 saw the #1 qualifier David Harvey Jr. take out # six qualifier Joseph Trantas, Bob Sanders taking out Keith Huffman and James Moshier taking treeing John Grob Jr to move onto round three. Round three saw Bob Sanders and James Moshier running for a chance to move to the finals and both cars ran under the 11.50 Index but Sanders running closer with his 11.498 to Moshier’s 11.487. David Harvey Jr. had a bye into the finals and he ran under the 11.50 as well with a 11.488 and a -.008 reaction time.

In the finals we saw Bob Sanders and David Harvey Jr. Unfortunately Harvey Jr. fouled away his chance at a win going .017 red. Bob Sanders saved his best run of the weekend with an 11.509 to take home the 11.50 win and a wally!

10.0 Index

10.0 Index had 12 cars come out and battle for the 10.0 Index class as well with Harry Lutz in his 1968 Camaro take the top spot with a 10.004 to take the top qualifying spot! Jim Harvey was right behind with a 10.010, Doug Frisch’s 10.015 was #3, Billy Gibbs who was running the 88 Monte Carlo who came out Saturday morning for the last qualifier took the #4 qualifying spot with a 10.016 in his only attempt, Ed Riordan Jr ran a 10.018, Brian Grinnell 10.024, Carl Ungaro 10.062, Al Broan ran 10.062, Keith Reis Jr 10.076, Paul Revaitis 10.113, Jack Mullin 12.054 and Steven Silver rounded out the qualifying with a 9.999. The story here in 10.0 Index was that is Steven Silver and Ed Riordon Jr. These two racers worked hard to finish up there respective cars to make it out to Atco. In the first round Steven Silver from the bottom of the ladder took on #1 qualifier Harry Lutz and both cars ran very close together with a 10.014 for Silver and a 10.015 for Lutz but Lutz fouled away the win going .010 red. Ed Riordan Jr. was up next against Al Broan. broan broke so Riordan Jr ran it out to a 9.985 to move onto round two.

In round two Riordan Jr was up against Jim Harvey who was qualified #2 and Ed took the win with a 10.048 over Harvey who fouled. Steven Silver and Carl Ungaro both fouled in round two but Silver only went .006 red compared to Harvey’s -.014. Silver ran a 10.004 in round two to move to the semis. In the semis Silver has a bye to the finals so he ran it out with a 9.990. Riordan Jr. and Keith Reis Jr met in the semis with Riordan Jr. going a .001 on the tree with a 10.007 to take out Reis Jr who ran to quick with a 9.946.

The finals saw Riordan Jr and Silver meet with both going red and with Steven Silver taking out his friend Ed Riordan Jr. with a 10.007 to Ed’s 10.009. Congratulations to Steven Silver on his 10.0 Index win and wally at Atco Raceway.

8.50 Index

8.50 Index only saw 8 cars in the field at Atco. Angelo Valla in his beatuful Corvette took home the top qualifying spot with an 8.502, followed by Dan Purdy with an 8.515, Al Davidowski 8.519, Joe Albrecht 8.532, Delon Pleasants 8.537, Alfonse Magliocco in his Fonse Performance 93 Camaro was number 6 with a 8.550, Zach Obert followed with a 8.567 and Dennis Moore rounded out the field with an 8.598.

First round Joe Albrecht in his Monte Carlo was up against Delon Pleasants with Joe moving on with an 8.588 against Delon’s 8.604. Angelo Valla the number one qualifier was up against number eight qualifier Dennis Moore and Valla moved on with an 8.628 over an 8.647. Dan Purdy in his very clean 2002 Camaro ran Zach Obert with Dan Purdy running a perfect 8.500 to take down Zach Obert’s 8.571. The Fonse Performance 93 Camaro was up against number 3 qualifier Al Davidowski and Alfonse took the win here going .009 on the tree and running an 8.529 over Davidowski’s 8.565.

In the semis we had Joe Albrecht and Angelo Valla meet with Albrecht taking the win with an 8.528 over Valla who ran to quick with an 8.498. Dan Purdy and Alfonse Maglocco met up in a battle of Camaro’s with Dan Purdy running an 8.510 to Alfonse’s 8.529.

The finals saw Joe Albrecht and Dan Purdy with Joe treeing Dan with an .014 light to Dan Purdy’s .130. This is where the race was won with Joe Albrecht running 8.610 with the faster 8.509 of Purdy’s.

Congratulations to Joe Albrecht in his 8.50 Index win and wally at Atco Raceway!

Editor’s Note – we are having problems with our gallery at the moment, so our photos from this race have been posted in a Facebook album. Sorry for the inconvenience, and we will have this fixed by the next race.

Heads Up Racing in our area kicked off with quite an amazing start to the season, with the first installment of the 2013 Finishline Performance / Cecil County Dragway Outlaw Street Car Shootout series. Besides some cool temperatures after sunset, the weather was perfect and it was a delightful day to suck in as much burnout smoke as possible.

During the off season, precision machinery was brought out to Cecil to touch up the year old racing surface – all of the concrete was ground to a perfectly level height. The results of this work are evident with the elapsed times on the boards, and the consensus from the racers about how great the racing surface was on the first race day.

Another big change is Finishline Performance coming on board with Cecil County to run the fuel shack. Dave O and the team have every fuel available for any engine combination, on the premises – there’s no need for you to go pick up fuel and haul it in yourself, any longer – you’ll get the same competitive prices, right at the track, along with the usual professional service from Finishline Performance.

When the sun went down, we saw some auxiliary lighting on the track – another welcomed addition. The staff at Cecil is learning about the best places and angles for the extra lighting and will continue to improve on this throughout the season, maximizing light on the track without any impact to the drivers.

Besides our photo galleries, be sure to check these photos out from the other awesome photographers on the property!

We heard rumors of some impressive time slips during the Friday test session, however, the fans showed up on Saturday to see the real thing. During the winter, most 10.5 teams changed a good bit of their setups, and the first race is always tricky for them as they get new gear dialed in. Two teams we do not usually see at Cecil were on the property, Nick Agostino from Ontario, Canada (yes, Canada), and George Williams out of Mastic, NY. While the qualifying order had Tommy Mauro, Anthony DiSomma, and Mo Hall at the top, the other twelve teams could just have easily gone to the top spot – their qualifying order that day was not indicative of the power they make and the hard work they put in. Tommy Mauro took number three with a 4.345 @ 180, while Anthony DiSomma took number two with a 4.186 at a big 191mph. At the top was Mo Hall, his Fulton powered, HFR Fabrication built Camaro going an impressive 4.175 @ 179 – setting the stage for the year by snatching the top spot with a nitrous car.
Half of the wins in round one went to the lower qualified teams – Brad Harris, Nick Agostino, and Mike Decker all earned spots to the quarter finals. Decker in the Decker’s Salvage car improved big time, figuring out their setup and putting up a 4.261 pass, with plenty more left in it. Anthony DiSomma continued to improve as well, running a 4.144 pass up against Billy Mitchell, who had a .073 advantage leaving the line on DiSomma but could not keep the tires stuck to the track.

In the quarter finals, Nick Agostino met up with the #1 Qualifier, Mo Hall. Nick caught Mo leaving absolutely dead late, and shot down the track to a 4.361 @184 pass, taking the win over Hall. Hall had a huge fireball (caught by Bill Robaey) when his fifth system came on, a victim of the cool night air. In one of the fastest side-by-side races ever at Cecil County, Shawn Zubler & KOS Motorsports took out the Decker’s Salvage Camaro on a holeshot. Decker went 4.156 @ 188 with a .187 reaction time, while Zubler’s Trans Am ran a blistering 4.162 @ 188, his .041 reaction time earning him a spot in the semis. TJ Kasper, no stranger to round wins, took out Tommy Mauro. Kasper went 4.310 @ 190 while Mauro spun the tires. Closing out the semi-finals could have been a huge upset, as Anthony DiSomma pedaled his way to a 4.523 pass against Brad Harris’ 4.389 – however, Brad was a bit late with a .197 reaction time to DiSomma’s .056, handing DiSomma the holeshot win.

Semi-final action brought us Nick Agostino and the team out of Canada, with the (relatively) little 480ci, twin turbo power plant, against Shawn Zubler. Zubler ran his career best on his last pass, but could not duplicate the effort and had to pedal to a 4.519 pass, while Agostino also had to pedal, but made it to the stripe first, with a 4.349 @ 155. TJ Kasper got the jump on Anthony DiSomma, leaving the line with a .018 advantage, but Ant improved yet again and ran an amazing 4.121 @ 192 pass to TJ’s race day best of 4.238 @ 183.

By the time the final round action came to the starting line, the air was drastically different than it was at the beginning of race day, with temperatures in the 30s. Nick Agostino and team quickly figured out Cecil County, and even though their times were not as quick as DiSomma, could easily exploit any error in DiSomma’s setup and take the win. Agostino was improving throughout the day and we would only assume that streak would continue. Agostino did end up running his best time of the day, a 4.357, but had tospot pedal just a bit and his mph was down to 171. DiSomma also had to pedal, but was able to recover the run, and take home the win for the day with a 4.203 @ 179mph pass. Congratulations to Punisher Motorsports and DiSomma racing for opening up the season on the right foot.X275

With the popularity of the X275 class, particularly strong in our area, we have seen fierce competition at every single Outlaw Street Car Shootout. These race teams have to work quite hard to keep up with rule changes, but also to stay competitive, as each race we see the bar being raised. Chris Little, fresh off a win the night before at MIR, continued to run strong, and took the number two qualifying spot with a 4.689 @ 154mph pass. Ron Rhodes, also running record numbers for a small block nitrous car at MIR, was right behind Little with a 4.729.

An impressive story worth its own paragraph is that of Rich Bruder and the Bruder Racing family, who made it to the top of the qualifying field with a 4.662 @ 151. What is impressive is the fact that to compensate for rule changes, the Bruder family changed their entire powerplant, yet still ran at the top of the pack with barely any testing under their belt. No longer sporting a Procharger, the Bruder’s are now using a mid frame 88mm Garrett turbocharger, and DiSomma racing engine. During the off season, the car also spent time at Crazy Don’s Chassis Works for a double frame rail setup, and the entire front end was redone. While most teams would need a whole season to figure out how to run at the top of the qualifying field, let alone in the 4.6x range, this team’s hard work and knowledge is evident with their performance on the track.

Ron Rhodes (Rhodes Custom Auto) hurt his motor and unfortunately had to sit out eliminations, so Mike Cerminaro took his place. Mike faced Dan Whetstine, who with the help of Essick Motorsports, has had a strong start to the season. Whetstine was able to get past Cerminaro in the first round, but lost to Chris Little in the semi-finals.

Chris Little’s car was quite consistent, running 4.665, 4.661, and 4.654 to land him in the finals against the #1 qualifier, Rich Bruder. Bruder had spun in the first round on a single, but then ran 4.660, and 4.694 passes to land in the finals. Chris Little had a big advantage over Bruder leaving the line, but unfortunately could not get the 275’s to hook, and Bruder shot down with a 4.710 @ 156 for their first win of 2013.

Outlaw Drag Radial

Fresh off some impressive runs at SGMP, all eyes were on Frank Soldridge to reset the radial record at the County. He would not do it in qualifying, laying down a 4.593 for the number two qualifying spot. John Bova took third with a 5.061, while the rest of the field was made up of Bill Dutka, Paul Major, Mike Boccella, and Mike Modeste. This was the first time Major’s car has been out in competition since being rebuilt, due to an unfortunate incident at last year’s Shakedown at E-town. Boccella, also out in a new ride, made progress as the day went along. Mustang Mike Modeste had his twin Procharged ride out for the first time as well, and was getting a handle on the setup.

During eliminations, fans were not disappointed in the PSI Motorsports Cobra, driven by Soldridge. Soldridge went 4.335 in the first round over Mustang Mike’s 5.559, and was able to get by John Bova who had traction problems in the semi finals. Soldridge met Bill Dutka’s Malibu (J&E Performance) in the finals. Dutka had traction problems in the first round, but came back and ran a 4.786 in the semi finals. Dutka could not make a clean pass in the finals, as Soldridge had a great setup in the car, running a 4.295 (yes, 4.295, on radials) to take home the win for the day.

Outlaw Big Tire

Right from the start, we were all quite surprised at the qualifying numbers put up by the Outlaw Big Tire teams – with the top four being 4.55x or quicker. Ralph Hardesty brought his amazingly clean ride to the strip and took #4 with a 4.555 @ 167. Smokin’ Joe Schroeder set off just about every car alarm on the property, while running a 4.493 @ 169 in his blown ’69 Camaro. Mitch George, wheeling the Jack Boer Monte Carlo, had the candles lit on each pass and was so close to the #1 spot, landing #2 with a 4.479 @ 159. John Schroeder and family, no strangers to the top spot in Big Tire, were back at it with an impressive 4.454 @ 162 pass.

Ralph Hardesty made it past Smokin’ Joe in the first round on a holeshot win, his 4.570 to Joe’s 4.540. John Schroeder was behind James Houston by .070 at the line, but made up the difference and took the win with a 4.964. Mitch George didn’t have a clean pass on his single in the first round, but made up for it in the semis, taking out Ralph Hardesty with a solid 4.481 pass.

Just like X275, the Outlaw Big Tire finals put the top two qualifiers against each other. Mitch George lost before the race even started, going red by a mere .022. John Schroeder wasn’t just handed the win, though, he ran the best pass of the day in Big Tire, a 4.411 @ 159, to take home the win for the day, and also reset the track record at the same time!!

Ultra 275

We heard something we would have never thought would come over the PA speakers – a bonus prize to the first Ultra 275 car running in the 4.xx second range. With many teams still struggling in X275 late last year getting into the 4 second zone, we’re impressed to see how far Ultra 275 has come in such little time, that teams are knocking on the 4 second area.

Three of those teams include Marc McCloud, John Keesey, and Todd Geisler, who rounded up the top three qualifying spots in Ultra 275. McCloud ran 5.131, Keesey 5.122, and Geisler 5.103, all so close that the fans could not wait to see any of these three line up against one another. The rest of the field was not far behind, with most teams less than 4 tenths behind the top 3.

Eliminations brought along some close racing, with upsets always possible as the race teams teeter on losing traction in this class at any second. David Cappolina was making some good hits with a 5.413 in the first round, and 5.408 in the second, but unfortunately hurt the motor and could not make the semi final call. Marc McCloud ran nice 5.127 and 5.104 passes, both the quickest passes of the rounds, but also could not make the semi-finals.

The fans had to wait until the Ultra 275 finals to see the top two teams face each other – Todd Geisler and John Keesey. Keesey was not able to make a clean pass, while Geisler’s car was on rails since the second round. Todd took home the win with a 5.086 to Keesey’s 6.461.

11.50 Index

Wayne Roatche, Matt Downwarel, Jim Schmidt, and Cliff Sebring made up the top four spots, respectively, in 11.50 Index qualifying, all running in the 11.50x zone. Downwarel made it the farthest in eliminations, eventually falling to Michael VanDenHeuvel in the semifinals by a few thousandths of a second. Keith Huffman, frequent winner in 11.50, made it from the 8th qualifying spot to the finals against VanDenHeuvel, where he fell to the winner. Michael VanDenHeuvel made 11.590, 11.491, 11.493, and 11.511 passes in his journey to the winner’s circle.

10.0 Index

Not that we are surprised by the qualifying results in 10.0 Index, but, we should be – 15 out of the 16 qualifying spots were all in the 10.0x range – WOW! We may sound like a broken record, but, 10.0 Index is insanely close racing, and performing well in this class is extremely difficult. Qualifying order is a good indication of racer skill, but, it’s anyone’s race to take.

Taking top honors in qualifying was RJ Facchine, running a near perfect 10.008. The rest of the field is too long and distinguished to list take a look at the qualifying results for yourself!

We mentioned that in 10.0, qualifying order is a good indication of skill, however, there are predators everywhere in the field, ready to upset. Rj Facchine felt this, losing in the first round against Bob Romano in the 16th spot, Romano running a 10.003 with .056 light. We saw another 10.003 in the second round, this time from Mo Bolduc (#4 qualifier), but his .057 was late compared to Kevin Baker’s (#12 qualifier) .018 light, and Baker’s 10.010 held up. Rob Ward had strong 10.197, 10.045, and 10.031 passes to make it all the way to the finals against Kevin Baker. Rob came correct on his final pass of the day, running a 10.002 w/ 027 light to take home the win for 10.0 Index.

8.50 Index

This class houses some of our favorite rides to see, as they could just as easily win a car show as well as a drag race. The exception to that may be Rick Steinke – “Honk if Parts Fall Off” may be his motto, but he his tiring work on his Chevelle has finally paid off and the car is running great. Rick took the bragging rights in qualifying for 8.50 Index, running an 8.501 to take the top spot. Not far behind was, well, the rest of the qualifying field – all 16 spots ran in the 8.5x range. Behind Rick was Mike Pyott, running an 8.505, and newcomer Bill Pedus, with a 8.509.

Steinke kept his streak alive with 8.591 and 8.689 passes, until he ultimately lost to Zach Obert in the semi-finals. Zach’s clean, wheelstanding mustang was running great as well, reaching for the sky on each launch. Al Davidowski may have qualified 15th, but he is a serious contender in 8.50, running 8.510 and 8.541 passes, earning him a spot in the finals against Zach Obert. Obert and Davidowski left the line near simultaneously, but Zach was not able to make a clean pass, and Davidowski went 8.561 for the win.

2012 brought the heads up race community in the Northeast the closest racing we have ever seen, and it shows just by looking at how close the points were up to the final moment in each class. Race teams worked hard all year, through all types of hardships, from weather to mechanical, and still managed to shatter records in every class we follow.

Outlaw 10.5

Steve Gorman (Precision Transmission / Precision Powdercoating ) had a very strong year this year, finishing second in points at Cecil County Dragway and fourth at Atco Raceway. Mo Hall (R.V. Carey Plumbing and Heating) also had an extremely strong year, setting the bar high for the Nitrous 10.5 entries, finishing fourth at Cecil and second at Atco Raceway.

As much as Gorman and Hall tried up until the last minute, they were not able to catch ‘Kid Kwik’ TJ Kasper out of the Gil Christy Motorsports / Kasper’s Korner camp, who took home the Double Crown, taking both Cecil and Atco Outlaw 10.5 Championships for 2012. The entire team worked hard the whole year, with the help of their new engine program out of DiSomma Racing Engines and a ton of track time learning how to tune their setup. The highlight of TJ’s year was at the Shakedown Nationals, running a 4.08 @ 201MPH , and backing it up later in the event, taking both the Quickest and Fastest Outlaw 10.5 records!

Outlaw Drag Radial

Frank Soldridge (PSI Speed Solutions) had an amazing year, getting a handle on their ODR Mustang and destroying both the Cecil County Dragway and National Outlaw Drag Radial records, with a 4.29 @ 185mph pass during the October Outlaw Street Car Shootout at Cecil. His efforts, while extremely impressive, landed him the number two spot in points at Cecil, behind the 2012 Champion, Bill Dutka. Dutka sports a unique Malibu, J&E Performance Powered, and brought on John Balinsky of OAB Tuning this year, a very successful move! Dutka reset his personal best each race, and is looking forward to 2013 to continue lowering that number. Dutka also took home third place honors at Atco Raceway.

Team J&E was busy at Atco Raceway within Outlaw Drag Radial, providing the powerplant for Bill Dutka’s third place finish. Konstantine Zografos, with a late season start, ended up in the fourth place spot. At the top of the pack was Marcus Thompson (UPR Products) in his sick 1980 Mustang, taking home the points championship for the year. Marcus had his tough times at Cecil this year, trying to tame the wild beast under the hood and put the power to the ground, but he had it figured out by the time he needed to up at Atco, enough to take the crown.

275 Drag Radial

275 Drag Radial is the source of a ton of “discussion” on the Bullet every day, mainly due to the incredible on track performances that we see in our own back yard twice a month during the racing season. Rich Bruder and family set the X275 world in a spin this year, with dominating performance and even induced mid-year rule changes. That didn’t keep team Bruder down, who along with Mustang Mike Modeste and Procharger power, motored their way to a second place finish at Cecil County Dragway, and a first place crown at Atco Raceway. The competition was tough between both tracks, especially at Atco where Ron Rhodes (Rhodes Custom Auto) was on Bruder’s bumper the entire season, eventually ending up with a second place finish.

Down at Cecil County, Nitrous entries surrounded the Bruder Family at the top of the points, with Ron Rhodes finishing in third place by a mere four points. Dean Marinis was able to edge by Rhodes and Bruder, taking home the points championship for 2012. Marinis’ bright orange Mustang does not only look great, but runs great as well. Dean’s car may not put on a show at the starting line, but the numbers that show on the scoreboard draw a reaction each and every time he makes a pass. Dean puts a ton of work into chassis and engine tuning and has reaped the benefits of his hard work.

8.50 Index

Alfonse Magliocco Jr. (Fonse Performance) was looking to back up solid performances in 2011 this season, and he did quite well, taking home fourth place at Cecil County Dragway, against some extremely tough competition. Angelo Valla had a strong year, finishing second at Atco Raceway, with Zach Obert quite close behind him. Mike good, always a tough competitor, took home second place honors at Cecil. Despite everyone’s efforts, there was one race team that was able to best them, and take home the championship at both Atco Raceway and Cecil County.

That race team and driver would be Harry Gerb (H&J Motorsports, Fonse Performance). Harry’s Firebird would take home the awards at any car show he showed up to if he wanted, but he chooses to spend his time battling the 8.50 Index competition. His hard work paid off, beating out Mike Good and Angelo Valla at the last races of the year, taking home the jacket at two tracks in the same year. If you follow 8.50 Index racing, you know how difficult that is! Congratulations Harry, we look forward to seeing you dominate in 2013.

10.0 Index

Carey Cable (J&E Performance Powered) and the entire Cable family are not only good friends of ours, but also seasoned 10.0 Index Racers. Carey constantly goes rounds, and his effort put him in the third place spot at both Atco Raceway and Cecil County. Ahead of Cable at Atco was another Nova, that of Doug Frisch, who beat out Cable for the second place spot by 12 points. In the lead by a good bit and taking home the 10.0 Index Championship at Atco Raceway in 2012 was Ed Riordan Jr, in his ’69 Pontiac Firebird. Riordan’s racing operation is a family affair, like most teams, and his win was well earned by over thirty points.

At Cecil County, Christian Benedict was able to beat out Carey Cable for the second place spot on the year, in his ’88 Mustang. Both Carl Ungaro and Rich Sosnowski did their best to try and win, but brought up the third and fourth place spots. Taking home the top honors for the year was Rob Ward, having a strong year and finishing the year with a six point advantage over the number two spot.

11.50 Index

At Atco Raceway, when you mention 11.50 Index, you can also take the time to mention the Harvey Family, which usually has at least one entry going rounds each race. Dave Harvey Jr. took home top honors for the Harvey Family this year, with a third place finish in 11.50 Index. Jim Schmidt, making the trek from Connecticut for each race, had a great year and finished second, beating Harvey by over 20 points. The story of the year, however, goes to Bob Perrottet, who absolutely dominated the class by over 70 points and took the championship for the 2013 season.

For Cecil County 11.50 Index Racing, Jim Schmidt was at the top of the ladder yet again, with a solid third place finish, making his mark on the 11.50 Index community. Keith Huffman, a Cecil regular, finished ahead of Schmidt in the number two spot by 7 points. Taking home the win for the year was Steve Gurnick, beating out Huffman by 4 points. Gurnick is a Cecil regular, who drives his ’85 Mustang to and from the track for each Street Car Shootout. Most of the time, he’s leaving from the Winner’s Circle, as he is a very successful racer in 11.50 Index as well as Pro Dial, where he doubled up and also took home the 2012 Championship.

Ultra 275

Ultra 275 surprised everyone this year, with passes dipping extremely low in the 5 second range by the end of the season. John Keesey’s wild paint job had everyone’s attention at Cecil, and not only did it look fast, his Mustang performed well and he took home the fourth place spot for the season. The top three spots were taken up by racers that battled to the last inch each race – Marc McCloud, Todd Geisler, and Mike Barry. Barry’s Malibu took home third place honors with 55 points. By a mere two point margin, Marc McCloud inched by Todd Geisler for the championship, 69 points to 67. We’re looking forward to see if these guys can hit he 4’s in 2013!

Outlaw Big Tire

We saw 20 entries in Outlaw Big Tire at Cecil County throughout the 2012 season, a strong showing, and many more combinations expected for the 2012 season. The range of cars that come to compete in this class is impressive, from Fieros to late model GTO’s. One of the best looking rides belongs to James Houston, who took his ’64 Ford to the third place position for 2012. He was beaten by a mere point by Charlie Boy Micallef’s 70 Chevelle, who took the number two spot. Taking home the win for the year and having a dominating year was Tom Tarsia. Tarsia’s Supercharged entry blew out eardrums on each pass, making his way to the winner’s circle a few times on his way to the 2012 Championship.

It is with heavy hearts that we once again have to announce the passing of a great friend of ours from the racing community. Today, we lost our friend Mike Romeo, who battled severe injuries from a car accident in Bucks County for almost two days until ultimately losing the battle and passing on.

Mike was hands down one of the nicest people we had ever met, always wearing an infectious smile at the track whether win or lose. He was often found not in his own pits, but in others’, helping out his friends or any racer in need. Mike had numerous track championships under his belt in the 10.0 Index class with his trademark Camaro, and also dabbled in 8.50 Index in the past until joining it full time in 2012. Mike is currently the points leader in 8.50 Index at Atco Raceway.

On a personal level, Mike was one of the racers at the track that always brightened my day, making it worth it to travel each weekend to cover heads up races. Always with a smile on his face whether he was going rounds or knocked out early (a rare occurrence), I am going to miss him dearly both on the track and off and will miss seeing the smile on his face during each and every launch through my camera.

We wish our deepest sympathies to the entire Romeo family during this tough time. A support fund has been created by Harry Gerb from H&J Motorsports, please click here for info.

Funeral Info

(Funeral details are what we have as of Thursday, August 9th 11PM – final details should be in the Bucks County Courier Times Obituary section on Friday)

The funeral will be on Tuesday, August 14th at St Vincent de Paul Church on Hatboro Road in Richboro, PA, opening at 9:15AM and service beginning at 11:30AM.

The heat at the last Cecil County Dragway – Finishline Performance Outlaw Street Car Shootout was intense and although the heat did cool off a bit the racers were out in full force trying to take out the #1 racers in each and every class! The crew at Cecil were up to the task getting the track to work for the Streetcar Shootout racers and that was evident with the low numbers in qualifying. The Northeast has some of the most dedicated and hard working racers around and those who follow the Cecil County Outlaw Streetcar Shootout fans and racers alike know that when they show up each and every first Saturday of the month they will be in store for some of the greatest and close racing around!

(don’t forget, if you click on an image within the gallery, a bigger version appears… with a smaller watermark in comparison)

Outlaw 10.5

Outlaw 10.5 the premier class here at Cecil County Dragway in the Finishline Performance Outlaw Street car Shootout series saw twenty cars on the property trying to qualify for the 16 car field. Billy Gordon took the #1 qualifying spot with a 4.319 at 184 with T.J. Kasper right behind him with a 4.336 at 182. Lou Sciortiono held the #3 spot on the qualifying ladder with a 4.353 at 168. Harry Buck Jarvis who had a bad crash at the 2011 Yellowbullet Nationals recently has been seen testing at Atco Raceway with his 1969 Camaro and came out swinging and was able to put up a stout 4.356 at 187. Mo Hall in his Fulton powered big block ran a 4.36 at 168 held the #5 qualifying spot with Larry Wood in his beautiful Proline Powered 2010 Corvette #6 at 4.381 at 184. Charlie Dolbin running the Caldwell Motorsports Nitrous fed 2005 Mustang pulled in the #7 qualifying spot with a 4.383 at 172. The #8 qualifier was Tim Essick who has been thrashing to get his car complete and ready for action the past few weeks ran a stout 4.384 at 174 in his small block Mustang for the #8 spot on the ladder. Tom Kasper of Gil Christy Motorsports and DiSomma Racing Engines was right on Essick’s heels with a 4.385 at 181 to take the #9. Kenny Doak in the amazing blown 69 Chevy held the #10 spot on the ladder with a 4.389 at a mere 147. Anthony DiSomma who builds many of the motors in the Outlaw 10.5 class was #11 with a 4.412 at 178 but on DiSomma’s other qualifying pass he took low MPH of the event with a 192.66 hit. Bill Mitchell who last month brought out his new 2004 Corvette and has been making tons of progress on the new car took the #12 spot with a 4.426 at 179. Steve Gorman the current points leader had the #13 spot in the order with a 4.476 at 181. Scotty Guadagno the Brooklyn racer who can compete with the best racers in almost every class had the #14 spot on the ladder with a 4.492 at 163. Brad Harris and Shawn Zubler rounded out the 16 car field with Harris running a 4.508 at 177 and Zubler running a 4.52 at 166.

Round #1

The first pair up in round 1 was the #14 Scotty G and #3 Low Sciortino who both run EFI NOS combinations and saw Low Sciortino go up in smoke for Scotty G to move on to round 2. The next pair up was Kenny Doak of K&K taking on the Caldwell Motorsports Mustang and Kenny Doak running a 4.292 at 179 to move on over Dolbin who overpowered the track and spun the tires. The third pair up was the #8 and #9 qualifiers Tim Essick and Tom Kasper. Essick runs a 4.398 at 172 with his small block to take out Kasper who runs a 4.468 at 179. Joe Newsham who was #17 on the qualifying ladder came in as an alternate since T.J. Kasper couldn’t make it to take on Brad Harris with Newsham winning on a huge holeshot taking Harris out with a 4.648 to Harris’s 4.556. Bill Mitchell in his new vette was up next against the Fulton Powered Camaro of Mo Hall. Hall spun the tires and shut down so Mitchell moved on with a 4.38. The #1 qualifier Billy Gordon was up next taking on the #16 qualifer Shawn Zubler. Gordon took this with a 4.30 over Zubler who hiked the front end up in the air and drifted towards the centerline so he had to shut it down. Anthony Disomma and Larry Wood were up next with DiSomma taking out Wood with a 4.429 to Woods 4.441. The last pair up in round 1 was Steve Gorman and Harry Buck Jarvis. Gorman treed Jarvis with an 002 light to take the win with a 4.362 to a faster 4.325.

Round #2

Gorman who treed Jarvis in the previous round fell victim to the tree with a .114 light running a 4.384 to Bill Mitchell’s .007 light 4.434. The next pair up saw the #11 and #14 qualifiers of Anthony DiSomma and Scotty G. DiSomma took out the Brooklyn NY racer who had some troubles with a 4.415 over a slowing 4.784. #1 qualifer Billy Gordon was next up taking on the small black of Tim Essick. Gordon who has been very consistent the past few Streetcar shootouts takes out Essick with a 4.305 Essick and Gordon were dead even at the 330 but Essick had to get out of it slowing to a 4.413. Kenny Doak and Joe Newsham were up next with Doak showing how much of a class act he is waited for Newsham who had to replace his convertor twice taking the J&E powered Camaro with a 4.310 to Newsham’s 4.404.

Semi-Finals

The Semi-Finals saw three of the four with twin turbo combinations. First up was Kenny Doak and Anthony DiSomma. Doak turned on the redlight giving this win to DiSomma who ran a slower but winning 4.461 to Doak’s 4.412. Billy Gordon and Bill Mitchell were up next and Gordon went low for the event with a 4.213 over Mitchell’s 4.38.

Finals

The finals saw Billy Gordon’s 2004 Mustang taking on Anthony DiSomma in his 2002 Camaro. DiSomma had a low MPH on his 4.450 run of 169 to take the loss to Billy Gordon’s 4.23 at 192.

Outlaw Drag Radial

Since the August Streetcar Shootout wasn’t quite as hot as the previous month the radial cars were able to get down the track easier. Frank Soldridge of PSI Motorsports in the 2004 Cobra was #1 with a 4.526 at 174 well ahead of #2 qualifier Bill Dutka in the J&E powered OAB Racing tuned 79 Malibu at 5.009 at 153. Bill has been working real hard in the Malibu and he currently sits #1 in points. #3 on the ladder was Chris Evans who has been battling some issues with a 5.211 at 142. Robby George in his Camaro took the #4 spot with a 5.344 at 136. Steve Drummond driving a beautiful 68 Chevy sat in the #5 spot with a 5.375 at 149 and right behind him was Steve Willingham in the gorgeous 67 Mustang built by Drummond Racecars with a 5.771 at 141. Ed Pfeiffer in the 93 Mustang who has a thread on Yellowbullet.com is making headway in his Mustang and continually improving each run. He sat at #7 on the ladder with a 5.800 at 120. In the #8 spot on the ladder newcomer Joe Giambanco ran a 7.303 at 124.
Eliminations on Saturday turned out to be a dominating performance by Frank Soldridge of PSI Motorsports. First round saw Bill Dutka taking out Ed Pfeiffer with a 4.829 at 167 to Pfeiffer’s 5.843 at 121. Steve Willingham in the 67 Mustang came up next taking on Big Green Chris Evans. Evans who has been dealing with some car issues hit the tree well but Willingham was a bit quicker on the tree and Evans wheelied and had to peddle so he came up short running a 5.57 to Willingham’s 5.295. Steve Drummond and Robby George were up next with George taking the win light. Drummond sat spooling the car up and went 5.13 his best time in the car but Robby George takes the win with a 5.31. The last pair up in the 8 car field was #1 qualifier Frank Soldridge and Joe Giambanco with Soldridge easily taking the win with a 4.53 to a slowing 6.68.

Semi-Finals

In the semis Bill Dutka who is going rounds at each Streetcar Shootout shows why he is the current points leader ran Steve Willingham taking him down with a 4.70 to a 4.95. The next pair up was a battle of Team PSI with the owner Frank Soldridge taking on Robby George. George had some issues and slowed to a 9.35 and Soldridge gets his car into the 4.40’s with a 4.496 at 176.

Finals

The Finals saw #1 and #2 in the points do battle and Soldridge who is #2 and deadly consistent today took home the win with a 4.52 at 175 to Dutka’s 4.94 at 153.

Outlaw Big Tire

Outlaw Big Tire which has been pretty good as of late saw 10 racers trying to get into the 8 car field. Tom Tarsia, last months winner qualified #1 with a 4.492 at 164 with John Schroeder who is back in action after missing the first few races with a 4.528 at 159. Charlie Boy Micallef the Long Island native ran a 4.619 at 157 to shore up the #3 spot. Roger Sterling in the beautiful red 2006 GTO formerly owned by Doug Harris ran a 4.706 at 152 to take make the field at #4. Joe Schroeder in the 69 Camaro ran 4.727 at 154 to hold up the #5 spot. Number 6 belonged to Kevin Ashely in the procharged El Camino running a 4.894 at 148. Number 7 was Jimmy Reutter in the 74 Nova running 4.945 at 146 and Rick Righter held #8 with a 4.986 at 142.Charlie Boy Micallef and Kevin Ashley were up first with Ashely fouling away the win but Charlie Boy who has been running very well ran a 4.61 to the losing 5.64. Roger Sterling and Joe Schroeder were up next and Sterling was very late on the tree, Schroeder hit the tree hard but blew the tires off so Sterling moves on to round 2 with a 4.508 in the N/A combo. Tom Tarsia and Rick Righter were up next and Tarsia takes this one as he has been running at the top for the last few races with a 4.49 over Righter’s 4.99. John Schroeder and Jimmy Reutter in a battle of nitrous entries has Schroeder step up and run a 4.51 over Reutter had some issues and ran a 9.66. In the Semi’s we saw the N/A setup of Roger Sterling and Tom Tarsia do battle with Tarsia moving on with a strong 4.52 to a losing 4.94. John Schroeder and Charlie Boy up next and although Charlie Boy steps up his E.T. it wasn’t enough to overcome Schroeder’s 4.50. In the finals we saw Tarsia and Schroeder. Schroeder ran into some issues but Tarsia matches Sam Gottier’s track record with a 4.46 to take home his second consecutive win.

X275 which has been a hot topic with rules lately saw 17 cars trying to qualify on the 16 car ladder. At the center of the rules debate has been the combination of Rich Bruder who is tuned by Mustang Mike Modeste. Bruder who was running the Procharger F1X along with the billet head has had to change setups back to the Procharger F1R. The Bruder Brothers and Mustang Mike even with all the debates around them came out testing on Friday and ran a 4.80 off the trailer. Qualifying this month didn’t see the Bruder Brothers #1 but instead Dean Marinis sat #1 with a 4.790 and 151. Rich Bruder was right behind him running a 4.805 at 150, Ron Rhodes of Rhodes Custom Auto said he’s only running one big stage today trying to figure out the progressive system. Rhodes didn’t look like it was to hard for him to fogure out running a 4.844 at 145. Mike Cerminaro sat #4 with a 4.963 at 144, Andrew Willingham ran a 5.066 at 138 for #5, Bob Clayton runs 5.076 at 141 for the #6 spot. Frank Provenza who hasn’t been at Cecil for a little bit came out and qualified #7 with a 5.099 at 144. Number 7 saw Darrell Varner in the 85 Camaro run a 5.126 at 140, Steve Thompson in the HFR Mustang sat in the #8 spot on the ladder with a 5.156 ar 139, Vince Palazzolo in the 2002 Mustang qualified #10 with a 5.248 at 139, Jeff Beish in the 1987 Buick sits #11 with a 5.267 at 134, Tony Mullin runs a 5.323 at 137 for #12, Brendan Mills who we didn’t see here last month sits #13 with a 5.445 at 145, Craig Walls holds the #14 spot with a 5.569 at 141, Terry Kowalevicz Jr runs 5.679 at 133 and rounding out the 16 car field is David Winder Jr in the S-10 with a 5.778 at 122.
First round saw Steve Thompson take out Darrell Varner who had issues on the line, Brendan Mills and Mike Cerminaro were up next with Mills taking out the number 4 qualifer with a 5.172 over Cerminaro who spun the tires. Frank Provenza and Vince Palazzolo were up next both had identical reaction times but the power of Provenza pulls out the win with a 5.004 to a losing 5.190. Ron Rhodes and Craig Walls were up next with Rhodes who has been in the 80’s all day takes the win with a 4.89 to a fouling 4.953. Jeff Beish and Bob Clayton were up next with Beish taking out the #6 qualifier with a 5.192 to a 5.424. The man with a target on his combination was up next with Rich Bruder running a strong 4.785 at 150 to put Terry Kowalevicz on the trailer. Dean Marinis and David Winder Jr came up next and the #1 qualifer runs a 4.857 to move on. The last pair in the first round were Andrew Willingham and Tony Mullin and Willingham steps up again running a 5.059 to Mullin’s 5.173.

In Round 2 Rich Bruder and Frank Provenza were up next, Bruder runs even better with the F1R at 4.763 while something broke on Provenza’s car. Dean Marinis and Steve Thompson were up next in a battle of nitrous combos of Big Block and Small Block. Thompson’s 5.195 wasn’t enough to overcome the big block power of Marinis and his 4.791. Andrew Willingham and Brendan Mills were the next pair down the track and Willingham continues to improve his E.T. each time down the track going 4.920 to Mills slowing 7.836. The last pair up in the 2nd round saw Ron Rhodes take out Jeff Beish with a 4.847 to a 5.917

In the Semi-Finals the first pair up was Rich Bruder and Ron Rhodes in a tight race with Bruder running a 4.769 to Rhodes who runs a 4.819 which may be a personal best for Rhodes but it wasn’t enough. Dean Marinis and Andrew Willingham were up next for a chance to go to the finals and meet the Bruder Brothers. Marinis easily moves on with a 4.784 which should make for a great final.
In the finals we had a burndown until track officials saw a leak from Marinis car so Bruder easily takes home his 6th event win in a row!

Ultra Street

Ultra Street the new class that is building steam and becoming a very nice alternative to some of the other classes saw a full 16 car field this month at Cecil County Dragway. Number 1 saw Todd Geisler in the 79 Chevy Malibu run 5.342 at 128, Larry Rhodes at #2 with a 5.39 at an off pace 112, Dennis Lowman Jr #3 with a 5.466 at 126, John Keesey in the beautifully painted yellow and blow Mustang at 5.624 at 131, Jeff Moyer #5 at 5.667 at 132, Mark Dill 5.691 at 123, Mike Barry in the very nice looking 65 Malibu run 5.840 at 128, Chris Hartman 5.844 at 118, Casper Pigott 6.073 at 121, Dave Shakespear 6.142 at 111, Ray Branden 6.195 at 112, Marc McCloud 6.278 at 130, Scott Rudinsky 6.291 at 113, Dave Mizell 6.487 at 121, Armand Guzman 6.509 at 108, and rounding out the 16 car field was Joe Boywill at 6.956 at 103.
First round started with Mike Barry taking out Dave Shakespear with a 5.84, Mark Dill takes down Ray Branden with a 5.67, Chris Hatman takes out Casper Pigott with a 5.88, Mark McCloud who has had issues getting down the track today in the 88 Monte Carlo goes low with a 5.252 to put Moyer on the trailer. John Keesey runs a 5.696 to move on over Scott Rudinsky, Armand Guzmand and Todd Geisler bother have singles to move on to the second round.

Round 2 had Mike Barry move on past Armand Guzman with a 5.39, Marc McCloud moves past John Keesey and improves upon his last round with a 5.233, Todd Geisler moves on to the semis with a 5.347 over Chris Hartman, and Mark Dill moves onto the semis with a single and goes 5.690.
In the Semis we had Mike Barry and Mark Dill with Barry taking the win with a 5.345, Marc McCloud and Toddy Geisler in two very nice Ultra machines had McCloud move on with another run in the 20’s with a 5.249.
The finals saw Marc McCloud and Mike Barry do battle with Marc McCloud taking home the win with a 5.212 over Mike Barry. Congratulations goes out to Marc McCloud and his team who now own the Ulta 275 record.

8.50 Index

8.50 Index one of the classes at Cecil County that draws a good number of racers and one that spectators like to see. Twenty cars filled the lanes to try and run the numbers to get into the sixteen car field. Unlike last month when only the top five qualifiers were in the 8.5x range this month the top nine were in the 8.50 range with the others not to far behind. Brian Ferrari took home the top qualifying spot with an 8.508 and Lil Man Marty Brown right behind him with an 8.513. Luis Martinez followed with an 8.523 in his small block powered 8.50 entry and eventual winner Mike Good had the number 4 spot with Mike Doak Jr behind him in the number 5 spot with a 8.559.Eliminations in 8.50 are always exciting with close heads up racing and this month was no different with Marty Brown and Mike Good doing battle all the way to the finals. Marty Brown who qualified #2 started with #15 qualifer Bill Pedus in the first round and ran an 8.598 to Pedus slower 8.722. Mike Good on the other hand had the Fonse Performance Camaro first round and ran an 8.608 to the the Fonse Performance’s spinning 9.194. In the second round Lil Man had Mike Romeo Jr who qualified in the #10 spot and Romeo Jr who is always a tough competitor but Brown took the win this time with a 8.513 to Romeo’s 8.606. Mike Good lined up with the H&J Motorsports Firebird and ran an 8.564 to Harry Gerb’s 8.616.
The semi-finals saw Mike Good, Lil Man Marty Brown, Brian Ferrari and Luis Martinez all competing for a chance to move onto the finals to take home the August race win at the Cecil County Finishline Performance Streetcar Shootout. The first pair up was Mike Good and #1 qualifier Brian Ferrari. Mike Good ran closer to the magical 8.50 number and moves in to the finals with an 8.516 to Ferrari’s 8.563. The next pair up was Luis Martinez and Marty Brown Jr. Martinez rolled the lights giving the win to Lil Man so he moves onto the finals to face Mike Good. In the finals both Brown and Good break out with Good running an 8.485 and Brown running an 8.476. Mike Good takes home the 8.50 win and moves into the #1 spot in points.

10.0 Index

10.0 is another great class with a good amount of cars competing at each Shootout race with this one being no different. Fifteen cars were on the property with Carl Ungaro taking home the top qualifying spot on the ladder with an impressive 10.001 in his 67 Chevelle. Right behing Ungaro was Mark Plucinski who is #2 in the points with a 10.007. Thomas Wood in the 1984 Buick Regal is always a crowd pleaser when he pulls into the beams and hikes the front end up each run qualified #6 with a 10.038. Christian Benedict from West Babylon NY had a great day racing in 10.0 qualifying with a 10.045.
The first round of 10.0 Index Christian Benedict and Matt Jewell were the first up with Benedict killing the tree with an .002 reaction and running to a 10.103 over Jewell’s slower 10.169. When Mark Plucinski and Keith Reis Jr came up to the line Reis Jr hit the tree with an .008 reaction and Plucinski broke out running a 9.995 trying to catch Reis Jr. Number 2 in the points exits early this race. One of the best races of the first round belonged to Carey Cable and Thomas Wood. Cable treed Wood and ran a 10.067 to Woods faster but losing 10.063.Carl Ungaro the top qualifier in the 10.0 index ran a single to move on the the second round.

Second round saw three of the four pairs have red light wins. Number 11 qualifier Carey Cable upset #3 qualifier Kurt Wilh when Wilh fouled givng the race to Cable. Christian Benedict and Carl Ungaro faced off with #8 qualifer taking out the #1 qualifier. Ungaro hit the tree hard coming very close to red lighting with an .001 light but Christian Benedict wasn’t to far behind him with an .014 light and a dead on 10.000 to Ungaro’s 10.020.
Semi final action saw Rob Ward, Carey Cable, Christian Benedict and Rich Sosnowski. The semis also saw battles of Ford, Chevy and Dodge. First up was Rob Ward in the 92 Chevy and Carey Cable in the 72 Nova. Cable red lit handing Rob Ward a trip to the finals. Christian Benedict and Rich Sosnowski were up next with a chance for a trip to the finals. Both cars slowed down considerably with Benedict taking the win light with a 10.343 over a losing 14.37.

The finals saw Christian Benedict and Rob Ward and a Chevy Ford matchup. Benedict who has been very good on the tree forced Rob Ward to try and hit the tree hard and unfortunetly went red with a -.004 light to give Christian Benedict his first 10.0 win at Cecil County Dragway.

11.50 Index

11.50 Index is a class at Cecil where the racers just like the 8.50 and 10.0 class see some great side by side runs and this month was no different. Jim Schmidt qualified #1 with an 11.545, John Secor was right behind him with an 11.568, and #1 in the points Steve Gurnick qualified #3 with an 11.569. The story today was Keith Huffman in his 72 Chevy who sits #2 in points but qualified in the #16 spot and mowed through a tough field.
During Eliminations, Jim Schmidt who qualified #1 took on Keith Huffman and Schmidt was slow on the tree giving the win to Huffman with a 11.545 to Huffmans winning 11.548. Round 2 saw much of the same close racing with Steve Gurnick running an almost perfect light with an .002 to Donte Garrett .080. Gurnick ran an 11.666 to Garrett’s faster 11.606. Huffman ran a nice 11.52 in round 2 to take out Michael Carchidi who ran way under with an 11.217 to end his day. The semis finals saw Steve Gurnick, Rocco George, Keith Huffman and Michael VanDenHeuvel line up with chances of making it to the final. Gurnick who is #1 in points was slow on the tree but he was able to chase down Rocco George beating him with a 11.579 to the slower 11.696. Huffman who is coming out of the #16 spot faced off with VanDenHeuvel and both cars run under breaking out but Huffman moves on to the finals with a 11.498 to an 11.487. Keith Huffman and Steve Gurnick faced off in the finals with another double breakout and Huffman was able to run closer to the 11.50 mark with an 11.496 to a losing 11.479.

The fourth installment of the Cecil County Dragway – Finishline Performance Outlaw Street Car Shootout brought some scorching action.. but more noteworthy, scorching temperatures!! We reached record 102 degree heat down in Rising Sun, which also, as you would expect, caused some ridiculously high track temperatures. As usual, Jim Halsey and the Cecil crew were on top of things, pulling out their signature move of hosing down the track with water between rounds in order to cool it off. It worked, and most racers, while understandably off the pace that we are used to, still made it down the track. It was certainly a battle of the tuners, and the drivers also had a tough time staying cool while suited up in their race gear. Heck, even the fans were hiding in the shade as much as possible!! It was a brutal day weather wise, but another awesome day of racing.

Steve Gorman (Precision Powdercoating) came in to race day leading in points, and set the bar high in qualifying with his 4.432 pass to take the #1 qualifier spot. Larry Wood, also regularly showing up with impressive numbers off the trailer, took the #2 qualifier spot with a 4.451 at a mere 173mph. Billy Mitchell, fresh off new personal best runs on the new Corvette at Atco Raceway last month, was solidly in the field in the #3 spot with a 4.482. Charlie Dolbin and the Caldwell motorsports team had the best qualifying run for a Nitrous team in the #4 spot with a 4.507, with Mo Hall (Fulton Powered) the other nitrous entry in the top 8 at the #6 spot. Billy Gordon, last month’s winner, qualified 5th with a 4.545. Rounding up the top 8 was Steve Crisafulli #7 and Tom Kasper’sDisomma Racing powered Mustang in the #8 spot.

Round #1

Steve Kluepfel, back in action in the big bad blown Mustang, took on Mo Hall’s Camaro to lead off eliminations. Kluepfel was off the pace and Mo took advantage, running a 4.666 @165 for the win, but off his pace and not happy with the run. Joe Newsham, qualified #9, caught Tom Kasper sleeping on the tree, Newsham’s .029 reaction time to Tom’s .108. Tom was able to get around Joe and won with a 4.676 @172 pass. Billy Mitchell’s day ended as he had problems getting down the track, TJ Kasper moving along with a 4.654 pass. Brian Penna had a .055 advantage at the line over Steve Crisafulli, but Steve was the one with the big power and drove around Penna, winning with a 4.519. Billy Gordon was caught dead late against John Fisher, a .227 reaction time to Fisher’s .025. Gordon, on point with the tune once again, laid down a round best 4.354 pass to take the win and move on, trying to defend his win from last month. Charlie Dolbin, Larry Wood, and Steve Gorman all had competition singles into Round 2. Both Gorman and Wood got down the track with low 4.4x passes.

Round #2

Charlie Dolbin, who was not able to get down the track in the first round, again struggled, but dodged a bullet and pulled the upset over Billy Gordon, who went red by .008. Gordon went on to run a 4.303 @ 190mph pass, which would in turn be the race fastest and quickest pass, but unfortunately a wasted effort. TJ Kasper and Mo Hall both did not have very clean passes, but TJ did some wheeling and was able to take a win with a 4.669 @ 182mph pass. Steve Gorman nailed the tree against Tom Kasper and didn’t look back, his .031 reaction time coupled with a great 4.386 pass took the win against Turbo Tommy. Finishing up the round was Larry Wood and Steve Crisafulli, both cars with nearly identical power plants, but Larry had the goods in his tuneup and was able to take the win with a 4.428 @ 184.12mph pass.

Semi-Finals

Charlie Dolbin and the Caldwell team finally improved on their setup, too bad it was against Steve Gorman. Dolbin was on his way down broadway but had to get out of it, while Gorman ran in the 4.30’s yet again with a 4.371 pass, with no one left in the race running that fast at this point. Larry Wood did not make a clean pass and neither did TJ Kasper to finish up the semi-finals, but TJ ran a 4.466 @ 170mph and that was good enough to make the finals, all the way back from the #14 qualifier spot.

Finals

TJ Kasper had a fresh set of tires on in the semi’s, and did another enormous smokey burnout as the heat-beaten crowd looked on. Steve Gorman did his burnout and pulled to the line, and both cars began to spool up the big motors. Gorman inched in first and held the trans brake, TJ bumped in and his stage lights flickered a little, that caught Gorman off guard as he did not want to leave early. Unfortunately, Gorman was thrown off and TJ left on Gorman, taking the win on a holeshot, Kasper’s 4.396 to Gorman’s 4.343. Gorman was disappointed at the result but in the end remained at the top of the points and will be back next month looking to improve. TJ thanked the team owner Gil Christy, DiSomma Racing, Don Bailey (DCB Enterprises), and Neal Chance Racing converters on making it possible to reach the winner’s circle yet again.

Outlaw Drag Radial

Saturday’s kind of conditions were extra brutal for radial cars, who have enough of a handicap getting down the track without record heat. Robby George struggled through qualifying, taking the spot at the bottom if the field in the #8 spot. Ed Pfeiffer was in the #7 spot, making his car’s debut after quite a popular build in a long thread on YellowBullet.com Steve Drummond was out in a new car also making its debut, built to be a street legal car running in the 6’s. Ricky Fox took the ride up north and made a 5.173 pass, good enough for the #5 qualifier spot. Chris Evans again making an entrance in ODR ran a 5.063 for the #4 spot. Scott Bitzer and Bill Dutka, both receiving help and from John Balinsky over at OAB tuning and continuously improving, took the #3 and #2 spots respectively, Bitzer with a 5.060 and Dutka 5.003. Dutka also had the fastest qualifier at 162.94mph. Frank Soldridge took top qualifying honors, covering Dutka by a tenth and running a 4.900 @ 159.87 mph in the twin turbo Mustang.

Eliminations on Saturday turned out to be the Ricky Fox show. Fox’s Fulton Powered Mustang ran the best in each round, taking out Chris Evans in the first round with a 4.790. Frank Soldridge broke after the burnout giving Robby George a spot in the semis, but Ricky smoked him in the semis with a 4.796 @156mph pass. Bill Dutka, with the fastest pass of the day at 167mph in the semis against Scott Bitzer, made it to the finals against Fox. Bill’s car left with no power at all, while Ricky ran his best pass of the day, a 4.772, for the win.

Outlaw Big Tire

Tommy Romeo was back after some major updating on the Nova over at K&K, taking the #6 qualifier spot on the day in Outlaw Big Tire. Kevin Ashley’s El Camino was definitely one of the more unique rides on the property, took the #5 qualifier spot with a 5.472. Adam Cohen, in the Fiero, another rare car to see at a drag strip let alone in a fast heads up class, went #4 with a 5.001. James Houston took began the top half of the field in the #3 spot with a 4.980. Tom Tarsia’s ridiculously loud, blown Camaro, went #2 with a 4.790. At the top of the field was Charlie Boy Micallef, taking the honors of #1 with a 4.686.

During eliminations, Tommy Romeo stepped up his game and snapped off a 4.774 pass with an .013 reaction time, unfortunately he had the #1 qualifier who was able to get by him. Charlie Boy ran a 4.678 to take out Romeo. James Houston’s win light came on after Adam Cohen went .027 red, Houston did not have a clean pass. Getting the single was Tom Tarsia, not far off of Charlie Boy and ran a 4.692. Semi-final action gave Charlie Boy a single, in which he did not make a full pass. Tom Tarsia improved again and made quick work of James Houston, runing a 4.687 @ 163mph. Final round action brought us #1 versus #2, a matchup always loved by the fans. Charlie Boy ran a 4.620, quickest pass of the race, but it was for nothing as he went .058 red on the tree, giving Tom Tarsia and his 4.796 pass the win for the day.

Track conditions were understandably tricky for the X275 teams today, who have enough of a time getting down the track clean when there isn’t record heat to deal with. While times were off the pace a bit, qualifying order was about where it has been in recent days. Ronnie Diaz edged his way into the field having not made a clean pass during qualifying, in the #8 spot with a 5.948. Dave Valora was right ahead of him in the #7 spot with a 5.302. Vinny Palazzolo took #6 with a 5.300, while Steve Thompson #5 with a 5.226. Mike Cerminaro, making an impressive outing recently and joining the 4.x second X275 club, made it into the top half of the field in the #4 spot with a 5.177. Ron Rhodes (Rhodes Custom Auto) was oh-so-close to a 4 second pass, his 5.002 @143 was good enough for the #3 qualifier spot. Right ahead of him was Dean Marinis, who is always right on the tails of the Bruder Brothers, taking #2 honors with a 4.923 @ 151mph pass. At the top of the field was Rich Bruder, who along with his family and Mustang Mike Modeste tuned through the heat and made a clean 4.827 @ 156mph pass for the #1 qualifier spot.

Rich Bruder took out Ronnie Diaz in the first round, Diaz again having trouble getting down the track while Bruder ran the quickest and fastest pass of the race, a 4.770 @ 157.25mph. Mike Cerminaro made a solid 5.092 run to take the win over Steve Thompson’s 5.409. Ron Rhodes and Vinny Palazzolo left within .005 seconds of each other, Rhodes took that advantage and put up a 4.944 pass on the boards for the win. Finishing up the first round was Dean Marinis and Dave Valora. Marinis was slow at the tree and both cars had trouble getting down, but Marinis was able to get back in it and take the win with a 5.752 pass.

Dean Marinis made his adjustments and faced Ron Rhodes in the semi-finals. Marinis killed it at the tree with an .004 light and never looked back, running a 4.939 to take the win over Ron Rhodes’ also impressive 4.945. Mike Cerminaro did his job and left on Rich Bruder, running a nice 5.038 pass, but it would not be enough as the Procharger combo of the Bruder twins is making sick power and put up a 4.774 for the win and earned another trip to the finals.

In another #1 versus #2 qualifier matchup, the fans watched Rich Bruder and Dean Marinis pull into the beams. To everyone’s surprise, Bruder’s consistent car spun as the power came on, and the race was there for Marinis to take. Marinis unfortunately also had trouble getting down and was not able to recover, Bruder’s 5.471 @ 148mph held up and put him and the family back into the Winner’s Circle.

Ultra Street

Before Ultra Street was called to the lanes, the rumblings in the pits were mainly about trying to figure out what the Ultra Street class would be running in today’s conditions. Everyone figured the top of the field to be in the mid 5 second range, which was quite accurate. John Keesey was in the neighborhood, running a 5.661 pass to take the #5 qualifier spot. Jeff Moyer was running solid, taking the #4 spot with a 5.584mph pass. Todd Geisler went #3 with a 5.498 pass, while Mark McCloud’s Silver Monte made a great 5.403 pass for the #2 qualifier spot. At the top of the field was Ron Rhodes in the Rhodes Custom Auto ride of Larry Rhodes, wheeling both X275 and Ultra Street today, running a 5.282 and having the field covered by over a tenth.

First round match-ups started with John Snyder and Casper Pigott, Snyder making quick work of Pigott and winning with a 5.478. Marc McCloud nailed it as the lights dropped, a .021 reaction time and 5.386 pass good enough to take out the sweet looking ride of Dennis Lowman. Mike Barry, a class sponsor, caught Radial Tire King Jeff Moyer sleeping at the tree and that cost Moyer the win, Barry running an impressive 5.505 to take out the #4 qualifier. Dave Mizell did not have the power to keep up with John Keesey, Keesey going 5.633 foro the win. Michael Gross came out of nowhere in the #12 qualifier spot running a 5.429, almost taking out the #2 qualifier Todd Geisler. Geisler inched out a win by a mere .026 seconds. Marcus Thompson didn’t make a clean hit against Ron Rhodes, who reset the track E/T record in the first round of Ultra Street with a 5.270 @ 131.70mph pass.

Quarter final action began with Marc McCloud, who put up big speed in the first round with a 133mph pass – this time he would take out John Snyder with another fast pass, a 5.370 @ 133.39mph. Mike Barry took a holeshot win over John Keesey, a 5.645 winning over Keesey’s 5.599. Todd Geisler continued to improve on previous passes and beat Mark Dill, a 5.368 to Dill’s 5.728. Ron Rhodes took the beams in a bye run.

Semi-final action got underway with the #2 and #3 qualifiers, who had been close all day up to this point. This race was no exception, as Mark McCloud again put up a big MPH and ran a 5.341 to take the win against Todd Geisler’s 5.388. Mike Barry, outgunned against Ron Rhodes, did his job at the tree and left with a .026 advantage, but Rhodes had the power and won with a 5.295.

#1 qualifier Ron Rhodes met #2 qualifier Marc McCloud in the finals. Marc nailed the tree yet again, an .061 reaction time to Ron’s .110. Unfortunately for McCloud, Ron continued to have him covered and his 5.271 was good enough for the win for the day, over Marc’s impressive 5.328.8.50 Index

Not a usual sight in 8.50 Index, only the top five qualifiers were actually in the 8.5x range on Saturday, thanks to the weather. Our buddy Robb Puller was in the #5 spot, barely in the 8.50s with an 8.599 pass. #4 belonged to the H&J Motorsports entry of Harry Gerb, with an 8.571. Al Fonse Jr (Fonse Performance) was up at the top, the #3 spot with an 8.541. Mike Good, June’s Winner, was still doing well and took the #2 spot with an 8.531. Top qualifier honors of the day went to Brian Ferrari, with Mean Green running an 8.519.

Eliminations were exciting as usual with some close heads up racing, starting with the very first pair. Lil’ Man Marty Brown lined up against Mike Pyott, who was back in action with a brand new rear in the car. Marty caught Mike sleeping, Pyott ran a great 8.540 but it was wasted with a .108 reaction time, Brown’s 8.549 was good to move on. Lil Man also pulled the upset over the #1 Qualifier, putting Brian Ferrari on the trailer in the quarter finals. John Razler, back in 8.50 Index after a long time away, had quite an impressive day making it all the way to the finals, only to fall to Harry Gerb. Al Fonse Jr continued to do well and add to his points collection, pulling out a huge win against Mike Romeo in the first round, as well as against Paul Cottone in the quarter finals, only to fall to John Razler in the Semis when his Camaro made an uncharacteristic hard move to the right off the line. Paul Cottone has been steadily improving with the new setup in his car, going rounds last month at Atco as well.

Harry Gerb was on point all day with .040, .011, and .032 reaction times under his belt. Harry ran 8.540, 8.554, and 8.541 passes, all impressive and well deserving of the win for the day, putting the H&J Firebird back in the Winner’s circle, a rare occurrence when his wife is at the races (just kidding, Jackie). Harry is normally at the top of the qualifying ladder and was happy to be able to finish the job and take home the win.10.0 Index

Just like 8.50 Index, 10.0 had a lower amount of guys within hundredths of the Index. At the bottom end of that pack in the #5 qualifying spot was Christian Benedict with a 10.066. Mark Plucinski, points leader so far, ran an 10.043, while Steve Porter squeaked by him for the #3 spot with a 10.042. Rich Sosnowski took the #2 spot with a 10.039, and at the top was no stranger to #1 qualifier, Carey Cable, with a 10.032. Just because the rest of the field was not in the 10.0x range does not mean they didn’t try, nor does qualifying order give anyone much of an advantage in 10.0 considering how the field is entirely seasoned racers. Brian Grinnell (S&W Race Cars), a relative newbie that has been doing quite well lately, qualified 11th but then unfortunately hurt the motor in the Wagon and ended his hot day early.

The first round of 10.0 Index included the end of the day for quite a few racers that we are used to seeing later in the rounds. Carey Cable, the #1 qualifier, made a quick exit in the first round after going .007 red against Rob Ward. Other wins in the first round went to Rich Sosnowski, who took the win light after a .033 redlight by Michael Copenhaver. Tom Wood, back in action, was able to drive around Ray Wallis, a 10.162 for the win. Christian Benedict nailed the tree with a .009 and caught Mo Bolduc sleeping, Mo not able to catch up and Benedict’s 10.120 was good for the win. Even with a .001 reaction time, Keith Reis Jr. fell to Carl Ungaro who had the speed and came around with a 10.125 to Reis’ 10.183, a tight race with Ungaro’s .036 reaction time. Brandon Diemicke took the stripe and the win over #3 qualifier Steve Porter, a 10.047 for the win. Mark Plucinski got a single in the first round due to Brian Grinnel’s broken car.

More red lights in the second round would end the day for two additional racers, Christian Benedict and Rich Sosnowski. Mark Plucinski faced Benedict, he ran it out the back with a 9.990 pass, dialed in perfect for the next round. Carl Ungaro took the win over Rich Sosnowski who also went .004 red, bout would have had a tough time beating Ungaro’s 10.020 with .034 light package. Tom Wood nailed the tree with an .007 and never looked back on Brandon Diemicke, moving on with an impressive 10.034 pass.

Semi final action brought Rob Ward and points leader Mark Plucinski to the line. Ward left with an .011 advantage, and Plucinski never caught up. Ward took the win over the #4 qualifier with a 10.119 to Mark’s 10.149. Tom Wood left on Carl Ungaro with another great light, a .011, but Ungaro was able to (literally) inch around him and Ungaro’s 10.015 was good for the win to WOod’s 10.077, an .020 margin of victory.

Rob Ward again enjoyed a starting line advantage, this time in the finals over Carl Ungaro, with a .019 advantage. We ended up with a double breakout situation, Ungaro taking the stripe trying to catch up but went too quick, his 9.965 fell to Ward’s 9.991, putting the truck in the Winner’s circle for the first time this season at Cecil County.

11.50 Index

Keith Huffman brought up the tail end of the qualifiers in the 11.5x range with an 11.542 pass, only to be bested by #2 Frank Newsome with an 11.518 and #1 Jim Schmidt with an 11.511. The rest of this 11 car field was not far off, we saw last month’s winner Steve Gurnick pulling double duty with Pro Dial in the #9 spot of 11.50, everyone would have to keep an eye out for him during eliminations.

During Eliminations, Jim Schmidt proved his #1 qualifier spot was no fluke by making an 11.519 pass with .026 reaction on a single in the first round. Keith Huffman ran a nice 11.553 pass taking out Greg Newsome, only to be eliminated by Steve Gurnick in the second round when he was caught dead late on the tree. Gurnick was deadly on the tree throughout eliminations, with .045, .019, .034, and .037 lights, earning him a trip to the final and ultimately the winner’s circle. In the final, Gurnick met #2 Qualifier Frank Newsome, who was dead late with a .205 reaction time and had no chance catching Gurnick. Congratulations Steve Gurnick for the second win in as many races, and also doubling up on the day by winning the Pro Dial class!
Pro Dial Winner: Steve Gurnick
Super Street Winner: Brandon Michaels
Top Sportsman Winner: Vonnie Mills
Pro Street Winner: Don Naser